The Strongest Power of All
by Aly91
Summary: The Avengers Initiative is being formed to take down Loki, and they track down Mirach to join them. The girl doesn't seem like much, but it isn't long before she finds her place in the team. OC/Bruce Banner
1. Chapter 1

Here's a new one! I hope you like it, I know I have yet to finish the other stories, but this came to me last night and I had to write it…. Oh and I don't own Avengers!

"Miss Mira, look, I picked you a flower," a slightly grubby hand stuck a pretty little daffodil in the kneeling woman's face.

"Ah, thank you Annie," the pretty woman smiled when the little girl tucked it behind her ear, enhancing her strange impish features.

"You're very welcome," the girl recited, proud of herself, she, like all the other kids running around the garden the woman was planting, would do anything to make Mira happy.

"Now, go play with the others," Mira grinned when Annie nodded and ran off to play with the others. Standing up, she smiled at her handy work, cleaning her hands on her jeans. The orphanage she took special care in, as it was the one she had lived in herself, was already more beautiful now she helped it along. A new paint job, a small tree house complete with swings underneath, and now a garden made it look wonderful. After cleaning up the various tools, she called the kids to her.

"Now, I planted this garden for you to play in, I want you all to help take care of it, okay?" her voice was cheerful and soft as all the children echoed an "okay."

"Mirach Larkson, may we talk with you?" a strong feminine voice asked, looking up to the house she saw a woman with flaming red hair and a handsome older man whose clothes looked crumpled as if from a flight. Blinking in confusion she nodded, turning her attention to the kids, she told them to go find Sister Lauren and tell her she had to leave.

"Yes, what can I do to help you?" she led them away, not quite trusting the way they felt, they had a strange aura about them.

"I am told you have remarkable… talents," the woman continued, all business.

"Oh? And knowing of these gifts, you still searched me out," Mirach gave a gentle smile, these people were strange, if they came to harm her they had another thing coming.

"Yes, we need your help, a threat has arisen that may threaten the world as we know it," the woman wasn't wasting her time, Mira thought with a slight smile.

"And what am I supposed to do? Are you sure you know the nature of my talents, I'm not made for war," Mira laughed then, noticing the others stayed serious, she actually picked up anger from the tall man, "so you come to the first freak you can, trying to appeal to her humanity? You want me to save the world? You think I wanted any of this!" her smile dropping.

"You would be of more use than you believe, the man threatening us is known as Loki, god of tricksters, I saw that your power would negate his silver tongue, and hopefully you could persuade him to stop his plans."

"So, I have a file, then? They promised I could live a normal life, after all of those awful experiments I had to endure by him," the girls' smile was back and it was ironic, "if my powers can even work on a god, then you have my help, anything to protect others."

"Good to have you on board, my name is Natasha Romanoff, and this is Doctor Bruce Banner," at this the man winced. Nodding the dark haired woman climbed into the car after them, telling the driver where her house was located, a sick feeling he already knew entered her mind.

~Bruce's POV~

After being rushed onto the plane, the beautiful agent turned to me, "we have one more person to collect, then we're off to the base," she explained, as I tried to keep my dinner when the plane hitting more turbulence.

"Who's the poor sap who you're going to steal away?" I asked, smirking at her thoughtful look, as she pulled out a thin folder.

"Her name is Mirach Larkson, she's 25 and has persuasive abilities with a high observation level, she is a doctor of psychology and volunteers at some orphanage, where she is supposed to be right now," Natasha looked back up to me, I didn't know what to say, her case sounded somewhat similar to mine, wonder what they had on her that would make her work for S.H.I.E.L.D. It was a long awkward silence until we landed on an airstrip in Boston. After being ushered into a black car, we made it to the outskirts of the large city, a nice looking Victorian style house came into view, painted a soft yellow with a sign proclaiming it to be "St. Mary's Orphanage," a common enough name.

"Hello, we're looking for a Mirach Larkson," Natasha said to a nun rushing around the main entrance.

"Oh," she stopped her cleaning to turn her attention to us, "Mira will probably be out back, playing with the children. Nodding our thanks, we followed the nun through the house, passing by some rooms, some empty while others contained kids reading or playing with some toy, finally making it to a sliding glass door in the back.

"Is that her?" Natasha was motioning to a short, fairy-like brunette who was rushing around, cleaning up trowels and shovels and empty plant containers.

"That would be our Mira, after her…accident, she came back and wanted to help again, the poor dear didn't realize she was the one who needed it the most. But we accepted, the children love her, she has always had a way with people," the nun was looking on the girl with proud, soft eyes. Bruce immediately felt pity for the girl, and then his anger, the anger that never left, flared up. This girl was being brought into something bigger than us all, when she just wanted to live a peaceful life; he wondered what this accident was. Following Natasha, the two approached the girl, her eyes, which were a soft amber color, widened, but her smile didn't falter until she began questioning why anyone would want her help. But she agreed in the end, which surprised Banner, Natasha didn't have to threaten or blackmail her, she just smiled and let herself into the car and asked to go to her house to pick up her things. And that's what she did, as they all boarded the plane; the short girl gave Bruce's hand a quick squeeze.

"Everything will be fine, no worries, I may not be the strongest person in the world, I won't let anything happen to you," the girl must not have heard of him, heard of the destruction of Harlem, he felt touched she would offer help, smiling at the pixie. He wondered what she could really do; this tiny girl Fury wanted on the team, what Natasha said seemed too vague.

AN:/Hope you enjoyed the story, Reviews would be nice! I already know where this story is going (unlike my others which keep switching) so it should be done soonish…


	2. Chapter 2

And here is chapter two, I would like to warn you, as I have only seen this once, the events won't be in perfect order…. Oh and I don't own Avengers!

It didn't take long before the trio touched down. And Mirach got to meet the Captain America, er Steve Rogers.

"Is this a sub or a boat?" Mirach asked, cocking her head in confusion, already not liking it, with the inability to swim she never was too fond of water crafts.

"I was wondering the same thing," Steve said, glancing around thoughtfully.

" Really? They want me submerged in a pressurized metal container?" Bruce asked, he felt confused, and Mirach shared this, who knew their base would be a floating airstrip. But of course, it began to rise into the air, causing Mirach to step from the edge, fearful of falling in; "Oh, no, this is much worse," Banner frowned as the group followed Natasha into the flying metal death trap, really how hard was it to find a nice warehouse or mansion in the middle of nowhere?

"Already off to a great start, eh boys? Flying around, plotting a god's downfall," Mirach's smile grew as the flying machine smoothly ascended, thankfully.

"And you must be the new recruits, it's good to finally meet you all," a tall man wearing a long black trench and an eye patch joined the two, Steve passed him some money, causing him to smirk, "Mirach, Agent Hill here will show you to your room, the rest of you, it's time to get to work, we've been working on tracking Loki's whereabouts down by facial recognition."

Mirach smiled to the stoic agent allowing her to lead the way, hearing one man shout out that they had found him, great, now soon she would get to meet this powerful trickster in real life, exciting. Plopping her pack on the ground, she began to unpack, only taking about a half an hour before she was tired of rearranging her things and waiting for news, she decided to be social and find anyone really. Walking around she ran into several agents, but they were too busy to associate themselves with the girl who looked out of place in a skirt and white button up shirt she had changed into. She reached room with several windows looking out into the hall, with Bruce flitting around several computers. Knocking on the glass for his attention she mimed herself going in, Bruce nodding an invitation.

"Hey," Mirach opened the door, "I'm not bugging you, am I?"

"Oh, no of course not, you-you're fine," Bruce was busy, but a little company wouldn't hurt, he hoped.

"That's good, figured it wouldn't hurt to be social," Mirach glanced around, "so what does all of this do?"

"Well, a lot, it connects to various government computers, which will help find the cosmic cube that everyone seems to be after," Bruce replied, half his attention on the computers, the rest watching the girl behind them thoughtfully, this technology was truly amazing.

"Fascinating," the girl pulled a computer around and flitted her eyes across it, "hey, look at all the cameras they have set up, kinda creepy." Bruce glanced up as he watched in slight apprehension as she played with the computers; she seemed to know what she was doing.

"Ah, don't worry," Mirach pushed it away, turning her attention to a confused Bruce, "I can tell, your forehead is all scrunched and your eyes look shifty."

"Sorry, Larkson, so you work at an orphanage?" Bruce wringed his hand as he tried to start a conversation.

"Nope, I work at a Looney Bin," Mirach smiled at him, "but children are my passion, anything to protect them and let them have a childhood, orphanages holds a special place in my heart, by the way call me Mirach or Mira, Larkson sounds so stuffy."

Bruce couldn't help but chuckle at this odd girl, "so you know all about those disorders and illnesses? Do you do well with them?"

"Yeah, for some reason people love me, I think they don't feel threatened by me so they do what I say and are willing to tell me anything, and plus I don't judge them, which is probably another reason why I'm so good at my job, everyone fears judgment," Mira's smile softened as she looked up wistfully, before being startled by the intercom crackling to life and announcing Loki's capture.

"It looks like our time here may be shorter than I thought originally," Bruce smiled crookedly, almost smirking.

"I suppose so," Mirach's eyebrows went up. It wasn't long before Loki himself was led past their window, turning he made eye contact with Bruce before smirking at Mira, a shiver went down her back as she turned to Bruce herself, "better go see what's going on." Bruce nodded in agreement, following her in an awkward circle to get to the control room, listening to her talking about her patients and the kids at the orphanage as they went. She was really a sweet girl, and wondered how she got caught up in all this mess. Arriving they noticed a couple of new additions, Tony Stark the genius billionaire and a hulking blonde in a cape. This was getting interesting, Mirach smiled at the two, earning confused glances back, it looked like the team was now together.

AN:/Hope you enjoyed the story, Reviews would be nice! Hopefully the updates can keep coming to me.


	3. Chapter 3

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked.

"He has to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Bruce spoke up, making Mirach jump, "are you okay?" he asked her quietly, trying to be helpful. Nodding Mirach opened her mouth but Stark was the one to talk.

"Unless Selvig has the figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony snapped his fingers, glad he was on a roll and had another man here he could talk science with.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet," Bruce kept an eye on Mira; she seemed jumpy since Loki walked by them earlier, the look he gave them seemed like he was plotting something, he would have to keep an eye on her.

"Finally someone who speaks English," Stark grinned at Bruce.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked. Mirach giggled, those two seemed to be peas in a pod, she could feel that Bruce's spirit's were uplifted by this meeting.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster," Tony shook Bruce's hand, a smirk on that handsome, cocky face of his.

"Rage monster?" Mirach asked, her eyes searching the two for answers.

"Oh? You didn't hear? I mean it was all over the news, this man single handedly destroyed a town, practically leveled it, Pipsqueak," Tony put an arm around Bruce, who she could feel the waves of anger and uncertainty flow off him.

"Thanks," Bruce's words had several meanings, Mira could tell, she offered him a small smile as Fury got all their attention again.

"I don't normally watch the news, I'm tired of only getting bad news," Mira frowned, so Bruce wrecked a town? Why?

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him," Fury interrupted the exchange, hoping that bringing Stark in wasn't going to bring this whole operation down.

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon," Steve broke back into the conversation.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys," Fury frowned; maybe Mirach should have read the files instead of rearranging her room and talking with Bruce, she was already lost in this conversation.

"Monkeys? I do not understand," Thor's face almost sent her into a fit of laughter, poor guy, he was literally out of his element, he was nice though, he had complimented her when they first met, if she remembered she said something about looking like a wood elf, or something from out of their world. She supposed if there can be frost giants and so called gods, then wood elves shouldn't be a stretch.

"I do! I understand that reference," Steve was so proud of himself.

"Well, team, it looks like we are well on our way to stop a global crisis," Mira was happy, maybe she didn't have to get involved after all.

"Aren't you optimistic, what's the midget doing here?" Stark asked.

"I'm at least six inches over what most define as dwarfism, thank you very much," Mirach grinned, her eyes sparkled, this man was interesting as well, he seemed to be fearful, of what Mira wasn't sure yet, and he acted so cocky.

"Shorty's got a bite, so Pipsqueak, why would they chose you for this hero act and not me?" he looked at her like how He had looked at her, like she was something that could be dangerous.

"My name's Mirach, by the way, but I suppose you could call me Mira, that's what the kids back home call me," hands on her hips as she observed the taller man, everyone here was so tall, "and you are Tony Stark, I heard you are a genius, don't see how that could be true."

"Why, I never, are you going to let Shortstuff here mock me?" and when no one responded he pouted, "so, do you have some flashy power, or are you here to be all science-y with us?"

"I'm not sure, though I feel science may be out because I'm a psychologist, though maybe I'm here to help you, narcissism is unattractive," Mira grinned as the man's cocky smile fell for only an instant, a retort already on his tongue when Bruce interrupted, ready to head off and find the cube so he could go off and be on his own again, already his temper has been fluctuating.

"We should continue the search, since Loki doesn't know where it is," the two men walked off, Mirach frowning at being left behind, again.

"Um, sir, I was wondering, what am I supposed to do really? Stark made a point, he's more of a hero than I am," she was unsure of what exactly was going on, she had her uses, but in a situation where there was an army of aliens ready to enslave the earth, if what Thor had said earlier was right, she doubted her brand of help was enough.

"You are invaluable; we will need you to get into other's heads. You can tell when people lie, this entire team's life may be in your hands," Fury put a hand on her shoulder, "are you ready, Miss Larkson?"

"So, you want me to what?" Fury did not help her nerves.

"For now, keep watch of Stark, he needs to be kept in line," Fury grumbled, the last thing he needed was for him to bring out the Hulk. With a swift nod, Mirach turned and followed where the two went, Thor and Steve close behind.

"So you have a silver tongue too, Mirach?" Thor asked.

"I- uh guess you could say that, someone close to me 'enhanced' my biological structure to the point where when I get close enough, or touch someone else, I can convince them to do things, though it doesn't always work, if they have a strong will or if I can't appeal to their reason then I'm useless," Mirach looked to see Steve and Thor's reactions.

"Then why would you think you couldn't help? That's one of the niftiest things I heard anyone could do," Steve ruffled the girl's hair, not quite sure why she was so unsure.

"Thanks," she muttered as they walked in, to see Tony prod Bruce with a long tazer.

"Don't do that," Mirach frowned, snatching the prod and shocking Stark, "don't like it, do you? You're worse than the kids I watch back at the orphanage," the girl pointed her finger in his face, "it's not nice to pick on the other kids, Tony, darling."

"Yes, mother," Tony took the prod back, setting it back on the shelf he got it from, "fascinating though, isn't it? I know the psychologist in you wants to sit him down and prod at him yourself."

"Hardly, that would be just degrading," Mirach frowned, "besides, I wouldn't want someone doing that to me, Tony, get to work, if you don't find the cube in time then everything you love may be destroyed," her tone was serious and he turned and did what he was told, eyes wide.

"Of course, Tiny, Penny can't die," Tony's movements were robotic, but his eyes were glaring daggers.

"Of course you wouldn't follow what I say completely, I would be more interested in sitting you down, Mr. Stark," with that she sat on a nearby table, having to hop up to reach it, usually when she convinces people they go about their business as if they had the idea, Tony was resisting her, his forehead was wrinkled.

"So, why is Stark all of a sudden working? I mean it's a nice change from poking at me, but it's kind of eerie," Bruce chuckled at his small joke at Tony's expense.

"I made him," Mira frowned at Tony, "don't pout, you can do what you want now, just stop picking on Bruce, we can't turn on each other," Tony sighed as his hands fell to his side, finally able to control his mind completely.

"So that's what you do, you control others," Tony frowned, "just like Rock of Ages."

"N-no, I'm not like that, I can just persuade the weak willed or the willing, you do want to help, I just made that part of you want it more," Mirach backed away, feeling the conflict that Stark was ready to cause, he wanted to get her back.

"Not that different. Before we know it you will enslave us all, with great power comes responsibility and all that junk," Tony grinned as he looked down at her, he always enjoyed antagonizing people, but there was something in her eyes that made him stop his advance, she looked trapped as her back hit the door, her hands fumbling with the handle until she finally fell through, as she sprinted away, "what did I say?" But Bruce took off after her, knowing that look all too well.

AN:/Hope you enjoyed the story, Reviews would be nice! Hopefully the updates can keep coming to me.


	4. Chapter 4

**And here is chapter four, thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites…. Oh and I don't own Avengers! Oh and by the way, I changed Chapter 3 a little (a few more lines, less mistakes) when I read over it I was a bit disappointed at myself, so it is a bit better.**

"H-hey, slow down," Bruce was a bit shocked at how fast this girl was, "Mira wait, please, the other guy takes it badly when people run from him."

"S-s-sorry, I just, react badly when people talk about my powers like that, I feel like you know what I mean," her voice softened as she looked down on her hands, watching them clench and unclench, trying to catch her breath and control her emotions while getting bombarded by Bruce's.

"Well, yes, but you should know not to take anything Stark says seriously, he likes to poke and prod to see a reaction, trust me, I know," Bruce gave her a humorless smile that she found herself giving back her own small grin.

"He really likes to push people, doesn't he? I feel like he must be afraid of getting close to others," Mira smiled, "I feel, in a way, all of us on the team is afraid to," large amber eyes stared up into his brown.

"I guess you may be right, though why would you be afraid? You are probably the most normal of us," Bruce was a bit confused.

"Last time I let someone get close to me, it was all a lie, and he used me for an experiment," Mira gave a soft laugh, "you know, the worst part is that I let all of that hurt me, I wasn't strong enough to fight back. It took a lot to pick myself back up."

"I don't think that makes you weak, there are people who have suffered less, and they are unable to pick their life back up. I was one of them."

"What do you mean?" Mira cocked her head, as she looked up at Bruce, making him smile; she looked like a confused puppy at that moment.

"I get really low, and I'm always so angry, already you are stronger than I am," Bruce went to help get her hair out of her face, but stopped himself, awkwardly setting his hand on her shoulder, "we should go, work to do, worlds to save."

"How could I forget?" Mira grinned as she led the way, her short brown hair bobbing as she went, her gait short, fast, and bouncy.

"You know, if there's one thing I'm happy about this whole situation, it's meeting you," Bruce smiled down at her confused expression.

"Really? I didn't think I was that amazing," Mira let out a short laugh.

"No? You did stand up to Tony for me, and you are sort of a role model for me, someone who went through so much and can go back to living a normal life," Bruce gave her a weak smile, "maybe I can stop running."

"Well, first you need to find out what you are really running from," Mira stopped, Bruce following suit when he noticed, "fearing others, fearing rejection doesn't give them enough credit."

Bruce looked down at the girl in confusion; her eyes were closed as she reached out and took his hand, "what are you doing?"

"You know, self control is a whole lot easier than controlling others, at least for you," Mira smiled, she could control others pretty easy, "you just have to trust not everyone wants you dead or experimented on."

Bruce pulled his hand out of her grasp as he backed away, she can read people, he remembered Agent Romanoff saying she had observation skills, he didn't know it was so acute. It was almost frightening hearing someone tell you what you were feeling.

"Hey, there you two are, sneaking off? How naughty," Tony came up behind Bruce, putting a hand on his shoulder, "we're here to save the world, not hook up."

"Ha, firstly we were just talking, second it's none of your business what we do outside the workroom anyway so you should not be looking so smug right now," Mira flicked his forehead, and walked past the two men, "you two can go be all science-y and I'll go find out what Fury really wants from me."

Bruce sighed as he watched the short girl walk off, that was strange, he felt his heart sink when she walked off, her presence was warm and inviting, it felt like he walked out of a warm house into a storm.

"Come on, Loverboy, we have a world to save!" Tony marched off, Bruce following behind, wringing his hands in agitation.

~3rd person pov following Mira~

That was awkward; Tony really could make things weird. She hoped by now Fury had something for her to do, as of yet she did nothing, and she did not like feeling useless. After finally arriving at the large control room, she took a deep steadying breath.

"Fury, I was wondering if you had anything for me to do, I want to help," Mira tried to look strong, as she stood as straight and tall as she could.

"Actually, I was just thinking about that, I want you to go and interrogate Loki, I tried, but he claims to know nothing."

"Of course, just lead me there," Mira steeled herself, as she followed the intimidating man, when they passed the team, Mira glanced in, not all that different from Loki just moments before. Catching Bruce's eye she gave him a little smile and mouthed _wish me luck._ He looked confused for a moment but went to the monitor to follow their movement, looking to see what was happening. It didn't take long for the odd duo to enter the room with Loki's holding cell nestled in the center.

"Well, if it isn't the commander of the league of misfits," Loki smirked, he couldn't hide his confusion when the door was opened and the short girl from earlier stepped in from behind Fury, but then his mask snapped back easily.

"Well, hello little girl," Loki smirked; well here was one way to get his plotting started.

"Why has everyone been ragging me on my size? I'm not that short, am I?"Mira smiled, seating herself at Loki's feet, patting the floor beside her.

"Do you really expect me to sit on the floor, with you?" Loki sneered at the seated woman.

"Yes, I'm tired of standing, aren't you?"

"I am a god, I do not tire," Loki looked down his nose at her.

"And I watch kids on a daily basis, if I'm tired I know you must be, if you insist on standing it only proves the others right," Mira smiled innocently up at him.

"The others, what did they say?" Loki felt a strange draw to this diminutive human girl.

"Just that you are so full of yourself, that you only care about yourself, oh and that you enjoy picking on defenseless little girls," she could feel her own aura now, if that didn't pull him in and catch the god off guard, she didn't know what she could do.

"Oh? I feel like all you just said are things you are merely thinking, because no one has talked to you about me yet, if they have, then you wouldn't be seated anywhere near me," Loki smirked at the girl, not noticing the fact he was now seated as well, "and we both know you are not defenseless, little silver tongued girl."

Mira laughed lightly at that, "my tongue is nowhere near silver, good sir. What are you really up to? I don't believe you want to kill so many, I mean what good will come of it? You are after more," Mira tried to keep eye contact with Loki, though she never could hold someone's gaze, and found herself looking down and around him, she knew she could read him better if she looked into his eyes.

"What makes you think that? I would gain the rule of your so called Earth, be exalted as I should be," Loki furrowed his brows at the brunette before him, she was what others would consider cute, her form was statuesque, but in a smaller frame, and she had a nice face, maybe he could get her to help him, he didn't have his staff, but he still could try and convince her.

"Oh? What makes you so deserving? Why not another? Why not allow freedom? Or anarchy, you are the god of tricksters and lies, I feel that would be the way you would go, not trying to prove yourself by making others bow to you," Mira kept her voice light and soothing, like honey, it was easier to get people to eat up her words.

"Because, silly mortal, it is what I want, what I deserve, why would you of all people question wants and rewards, you who want them but are too timid and kind to go after the power you can so easily get. Join me and be the queen of this new world," Loki stood up, eyes wide, as he stuck out his hand to her. Mira smiled at his offer, she knew she could get the affection she wanted, but that would be hollow and meaningless, sighing she grabbed his hand, and to his surprise pulled him back down.

"You know, one thing this new gift has given me is knowing when to stand for something, I think for your offer I'd rather sit out," her tone changed, snapping Loki out of the slight trance he was under, it felt like he was submerged in ice water.

"You are a trickster as well, one who laces their words with meaningless flattery and convincing arguments, but you cannot fool me," Loki frowned at her, he knew he could snap her in two, but when it came to mind games she had a charm about her that made one want to believe her, unlike his own powers that were more forceful.

"I don't really consider myself a trickster, more of a do-gooder who only tries to get others to see the best," Mira was getting annoyed, this man was hard to keep a hold of, he riled her up just when she was getting somewhere and made her lose her concentration.

"You split hairs, it is all the same thing, with you as a queen of this new world you could get your way," Loki grinned; he could tell she was getting worked up.

"You think I can't get that for myself, do you know about me? If you did you would know these offers of power wouldn't sway me," Mira frowned, Loki wouldn't get to her, she could feel his real intentions, he wanted to use her, last time that happened she was shattered, this would not happen again.

"Little Álfar, you do not see what I am offering, I want you to be mine," Loki grinned at her, trying to convince her by telling her what she wanted to hear, he could tell she wants love, yearns for that acceptance that comes with it.

"You killed many, and wish to kill more," Mira narrowed her eyes, "I know you can read me, so I should tell you, yes I want love, but I will not sell out my morals for it," Mira stood, Loki following as well.

"I kill only those who stand in my way or get in my path," Loki grinned.

"Then what do you plan to do," her voice went soft as she looked into his deep green eyes.

"I want to conquer the world, if I fail, then the Other plans to show me pain like I have never experienced," Loki found himself confessing, "I do not necessarily fear him, but for both not wanting to fear the pain he described and for the rule of Earth I will open a portal and the Chitauri will come and take over your planet."

"I..I am sorry about the one who threatens you, but I cannot sympathize with you and your ambitions," Mira felt odd emotions roll off him, and she began to panic, backing towards the door, ready to be let out.

"Little Álfar, my offer will still stand," and before Mira could make her escape he grabbed her around her waist and locked her lips in a kiss like neither had ever experienced, both could feel each other's emotions swirling around them. Pushing away in disgust, Mira stormed out of Loki's cell, her anger and fear surging around her making the air sour and thick. After she disappeared out of the room, Loki let out a laugh, if she wasn't a human woman he would actually be interested in her, she had fire that many woman, even those in Asgard, lacked. At least he could plant doubt in her other teammates, as well as herself.

Mira stormed to her room, shouldering past Thor, who turned and followed her, after seeing his brother work his magic on the girl he had to be sure she was okay, after seeing the other's reaction at the two's encounter he was fearing a fight amongst themselves, the man of the metal suit was very close to enraging the one who could turn into a nearly invincible beast. He wondered if the man named Tony was right; did the double natured man have feelings for the little imp? After she collapsed on her bed, Thor carefully perched on the edge.

"Small one, do not let your emotions brew into a storm, my brother's ways are to make chaos," Thor rested his large hand on her back, awkwardly patting it.

"I know, I can handle what people throw at me most of the time, but when they go there, when they play with my heart, then I can't take it," Mira raised her head up a bit to glance at the large man, "I know he does not care for me, and the only feelings I have for him are pity, but I cannot shake those feelings he forced on me, it's like he injected me with all his doubts and anger."

"Then battle what feelings he gave you with what is in your soul, that heart of yours is strong enough to fight it, I know," Thor put a hand on head and ruffled her hair.

"Thanks, Thor, your strength is already helping me overpower him," Mira gave him a little grin.

"It is my pleasure, Imp," and with that he stood to leave, hopefully the Stars and Stripes man soothed Bruce.

AN:/Hope you enjoyed the story, Reviews would be nice! Hopefully the updates can keep coming to me.


	5. Chapter 5

**And here is chapter five, thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites…. Oh and I don't own Avengers!**

Thor stepped into the lab, he didn't like how he felt when he was in the same room as little Mira, her own complicated emotions became his and the longer he sat in that room the more agitated he became, he was glad he could help her, but he had to check on the others, Bruce was being pushed recently, and no one needed the fight that was sure to come.

The first thing he noticed was Tony pacing through the lab, playing with that cellular device of his, Bruce had his head in his hands, occasionally ruffling his hair, and the Star Spangled Man was nowhere to be seen.

"I just left Mirach, she seemed shaken, but fine," Thor sat at Tony's seat, as the man continued to pace.

"Why would he offer her a throne?" Tony asked, as he kept his eyes on his device, the tapping continued as he tried to dig up any information he could get.

"I do not know, from what I know of my brother he is plotting something, whether he is really trying to partner up with Mirach or trying to use her for something is unclear," Thor looked down at his large hands, as the rested on the table before him, "all I know is the little imp should be watched, she is not like us, who are use to fighting and mind games."

"What should we do then? Babysitting was not in the debriefing," Tony frowned, this girl was trouble, she may be on their side but already she had an evil god and a temperamental doctor after her. He could see it in both their eyes; mostly Banner, he didn't need to be a mind reader to tell Loki just wanted to play with her.

"Is she alright though? I mean she isn't hurting too bad, is she?" Bruce raised his head from his hands, he knew how he looked to the other two, ragged and tired and maybe angry. He saw her face as she ran through the halls, anger and fear and hopelessness plagued her.

"I believe she will be fine, she is strong enough to handle herself for now," Thor frowned as he watched the man stand to leave, "it may not be good going to her, when I was there it felt like I was swimming in a pool of fear and anger."

"I'll be fine, she needs someone, who knows what she'll do left alone," Bruce grabbed his blazer from the back of the chair, hurrying out to her room, hoping she was okay.

"Come in," Mira called, after Bruce knocked on the door, he already could feel the tension in the air as he opened the door, "hey, Bruce."

"Hey, Mira, how are you?" Bruce ignored the waves of anger flowing around them.

"Oh, I'm just peachy, I love getting played with. He knew how to get into my head, now I can't help but feel all his pent up anger and fear and sadness," Mira looked more exhausted than he felt.

"I'm sorry, I wish I could help," Bruce wrung his hands, as he looked down at the bed, she had brought her comforter from home, it wasn't the navy blue S.H.I.E.L.D ones he had in his own room but a soft sky blue color with white trim and floral designs. He felt odd, before when he was with her it felt warm and comfortable, now he was filled with a cold and empty feeling.

"It's fine, really," Mira forced a smile, hugging her legs to her chest and resting her chin on them, "you know, despite your agitation and fear, I feel better already."

"You do? If Loki's anger made you this… out of sorts, I would assume being near me would set you on edge even more."

"But you also have other, gentler feelings to you, Loki is pure ice but you have something inside you that makes me feel hopeful and happy," Mira's eyes bored into his soul.

"How do you feel about his offer?" Bruce asked as he perched on the edge of the bed.

"I hate it, you know, my ex who experimented on me did it to gain power, all the times he claimed to love me were a lie," Mira looked thoughtful, "it would be the same with Loki, both power hungry asses who only want what's best for them."

"And you wouldn't want that power?" Bruce didn't know why he was prodding her, he hated it when others did it to himself.

"Who would? When you really think about it who would want to control anyone," Mira looked into his eyes, "this gift I was given is something I don't want, and I hate never knowing if people did what they did because they wanted to or because I suggested it."

"What do you mean?" Bruce stared into the soft amber eyes that were looking now at the bed beneath them.

"My powers, I don't know anything about them, they can control others. I don't know if I'm strong enough to keep them in check or if I'm using them on everyone I pass," Mira had started to play with the tag of her pillow that poked out.

"I'm sure you are strong enough, I know you aren't controlling me," Bruce met her gaze, it was sad now, Loki's anger leaving as she focused on her own feelings.

"How do you know? That's something I'd want you to say," Mira pouted, hugging the pillow to her, leaving the tag alone.

"It's something I want to say as well, your powers affect me, but they only make me feel what you are feeling, when I talked with you in the lab I actually felt happy and warm," Bruce rested his hand on her head, just then noticing how tiny she really was, his hand pulled hers away from the pillow, measuring the two. After a few moments of fascination at how her hand fit in his, almost like a child's, did he notice her flushed face, "sorry."

"It's fine, I already told you that your presence makes me feel better, contact helps calm me, even before my powers were given to me, I should be thanking you," Mira smiled gently, she was feeling more like herself now, her fears and Loki's were fading away as she sat with Bruce.

"I-uh, it's no problem, really I'm glad I could help," Bruce dropped her hand, as he stood, "I should go, I was drug here for a reason." And with that he left Mira on the bed, confused at all that happened and what he felt, his anger was still there, like a burn on his heart that continued to ache but now he felt a coolness settle that comforted him.

AN:/Hope you enjoyed the story, Reviews would be nice! Hopefully the updates can keep coming to me.


	6. Chapter 6

**And here is chapter six, thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites…. Oh and I don't own Avengers! Oh and I'm extending the events out so there is more interaction between the characters. Here is some Tony/Bruce bromance and some cute little Bruce/Mira fluff!**

"Would you stop pacing?" Tony grumbled at Bruce, ever since he got back from checking on Mira he seemed agitated, "what did she do to you? You try and put on the moves and she declined?"

Bruce stopped his pacing for a moment, raising an eyebrow at Tony, "you think anyone would handle me?"

"Handle you? It's like you're saying you're a motorcycle or a car or-" Tony cut himself off seeing Bruce's resignation, "Do you really like Pipsqueak?"

"Not like that, she's a good girl and I'm, well me," Bruce ruffled up then smoothed down his hair, "main word here is girl, she is only 25."

"So? When should anything as small as age separate two people in love?" Tony bated his eyes at Bruce, "fine, you want serious advice? If you do like the girl screw the rules and society, since when did you care about either anyway?"

"I-I don't know, when I'm around her I get this warmth, at first I thought it was her powers but maybe I have… feelings for her," Bruce felt more than a little awkward talking about his feelings with Tony Stark, he didn't seem like he would be too helpful, but who else did he have?

"Then go for it! What's the worst that could happen? I mean she can control people and you turn into an indestructible rage monster, match made in heaven," Tony took in his look of hopelessness, "how bout we get some drinks in us, I make some of the best decisions of my life drunk."

"I'm not so sure about that-" but it before Bruce even knew what was happening glasses of various drinks and before he knew it he and Tony were sneaking around down the halls.

"Hey-hey, Doc Brucey, we should go visit your Shorty," Tony elbowed him.

"I- I don't know what if she's busy or something," Bruce blinked, he couldn't get his bearings. Tony dragged the reluctant doctor behind anyway, despite his drunkenness, his memory of the schematics of the helicarrier and pure luck they found Mira's room.

"We shouldn't go in, it's a bad idea," Bruce protested one last time before Tony opened the door. The room was dark and the two could tell the girl was asleep in bed, the small lump raising and falling with her breathing.

"I-should leave you two alone," Tony drunkenly stumbled away, Bruce could make out the sound of him singing Highway to Hell.

Sighing Bruce looked around the room, he couldn't make out much, on the floor it looked like there was a teddy, walking over he picked up a kitty, complete with button eyes and a patch where the tail should have been. Creeping over quietly he knelt down by the head of her bed. Gently pushing her hair out of her face, Bruce couldn't help but smile at the innocent air she had about her. Before he could pull away, she grabbed his hand and snuggling it to her chest. He knew he was flushed when her eyes slowly opened.

"Bruce? Is everything okay?" Mira blinked slowly, eyes adjusting.

"Everything's fine, Tony drug me in here and left me behind, I saw you dropped your kitty and wanted to give it back, but my hand kind of replaced it," Bruce tried not to slur, he was proud of his accomplishment.

Looking down she noticed her arms were wrapped around his hand, cradling it to her, blushing she dropped it, "sorry, I was always a cuddler."

"It's fine, I probably shouldn't have bothered you, I didn't realize it was so late," Bruce could feel himself sober up, the awkwardness was getting to him.

"Oh, I don't mind, I grew up in an orphanage, I'm use to being woken up in the middle of the night, did you want to talk to me?"

"I'm not sure, Tony and I were drinking and the next thing I know, here I am," Bruce rubbed the back of his head in confusion, he watched as Mira sat up, pulling her legs to her chest again.

"Ah, how very unprofessional of you two," Mira sounded stern, but Bruce grinned when he heard her chuckle lightly, "I'm glad you two became friends, better that way."

"Yeah, he's actually a pretty good guy, minus the cocky and seemingly uncaring behavior," Bruce smiled, finding she was right, Bruce hadn't had a friend in a while.

"Opposites attract in that case, I guess," Mira smiled, tucking some of his unruly hair behind his ear, "I'm glad in these crazy times we can all find comfort in each other, no matter how small the acts are I'm happy to see all of us actually banding together."

"Yeah, it's nice to be together," Bruce muttered, his mind still hazy from the liquor and the fact a pretty woman was talking to him, touching him in a loving manner, "I don't know how you can stand it, I barely can, and I didn't have contact with anyone besides the team."

"I guess I'm stronger than I look," Mira smiled at him, crow's feet visible as she showed off her muscles to him, causing him to legitimately laugh, Mira admired his smile, it made him look younger, less worried about the world around him as he enjoyed the moment.

"I suppose you are, sorry I ever doubted you."

"Its fine, as long as you know it now, don't mess with me Dr. Banner," she said in mock seriousness, her laughter ruined her act.

"I wouldn't dare," Bruce smiled, this girl's attitude was contagious, he found himself drawn to her, the two keeping eye contact for longer than necessary, the two dropping each other's gaze at the same time.

Coughing, Bruce stood up, "well, I'll let you get back to sleep then, sorry for disturbing you," he handed her back her stuffed cat.

"It's no problem, I already told you I enjoy your company, disturb me anytime," Mira smiled as she pulled the cat to her, holding it lovingly, she looked like a little girl in that instance.

"Well, goodnight Mira," Bruce backed out the door.

"Night, Bruce," Mira muttered curling up around the stuffed kitty as she slowly fell back to sleep, the conversation they had replaying in both their minds.

**AN:/Hope you enjoyed the story, Reviews would be nice! Hopefully the updates can keep coming to me.**


	7. Chapter 7

**And here is chapter seven, thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites…. Oh and I don't own Avengers! **

Groaning, Bruce woke up in his bed, eyes unable to adjust to the bright lights all around him, yep he had a bit of a hangover, trudging to his bathroom to wash up, he replayed the events from last night. Did he really go to Mira in the middle of the night? A part of him hoped not, while something in him liked the exchange. After slipping on his shirt and starting to button it, he made his way to the lab, passing Tony wearing sunglasses and nursing what looked like coffee.

Deciding to take a pit stop for some food and tea, he headed to one of the kitchens on the ship, going through the line and picking the less greasy and sweet options, hoping a nice egg and toast would settle.

"If it isn't sleeping beauty," Bruce couldn't keep the grin off his face at the sound of her teasing voice, "I'm glad to see you awake and intact, I was a bit worried when you left my room, checked up on you earlier this morning."

"Oh? You checked up on me? I didn't say or do anything stupid, did I?"

"Nope, you were passed out, so I left you alone," Mira scooted over on the bench, making room for him to sit.

"I'm glad, sorry about last night," Bruce tried to keep the grin off his face as Mira laughed softly.

"I told you it was fine, stop worrying about what everyone else thinks," Mira smiled softly, taking a bite of her bagel and a quick sip of juice, "Tony was the annoying one anyway, he walked the halls singing Billy Squire songs."

"Sorry about that, he decided that we need to get drunk so we could talk about our feelings," Bruce rubbed his face tiredly.

"Oh? Well, that doesn't surprise me, he doesn't seem like a touchy feely kind of guy," Mira smirked as she polished off what looked like a scone.

"Yeah, he responds by making fun of you," Bruce smiled.

"Seems about right, so I requested to go visit the children one last time before or whole battle begins, I was wondering if you'd like a break from the grindstone."

"You want me to go visit that orphanage with you?" Bruce looked a bit shocked, mostly from the fact Fury would agree to let her and him have any time off.

"I may have pulled some strings," Mira looked sheepish, "but it will only be for lunch and we'd be back before long, Tony can take over for a bit and I'm not needed at the moment, Fury agreed after the last trying episode I deserved a little break before I jumped back on that horse."

"You're going to try and talk to Loki again? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Not really, but someone has to wear him down, make it so we can catch him off guard. Now I know how he works, I can ready my defenses."

"I suppose, if you think you can handle it," Bruce trailed off, "so your idea of recharging is to go visit a bunch of kids?"

"Yeah, they are surprisingly intuitive, they can make people feel good as soon as you step through the door," Mira gathered her empty plates, Bruce following suit as they left it at a bar filled with them.

"I would love to join you, then," Bruce grinned as Mira hugged him, bouncing around excitedly.

"Oh they'll love you, just you wait, and the sisters will cook us some lunch and then we'll come back to the excitement of the helicarrier," Mira rambled as she led him to a helicopter that would distribute them at the local air strip, where a car picked them up, Mira the whole trip telling Bruce of the kids and nuns who worked there and sharing a few stories on her own time there. Bruce laughing along with her as she revealed to him how wonderful she really was, the gentle, kind woman he knew she was coming out in the way her eyes sparkled as she talked of the children.

**AN:/Hope you enjoyed the story, Reviews would be nice! Hopefully the updates can keep coming to me.**


	8. Chapter 8

**And here is chapter eight, thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites, I'm so glad you all like Mira (trying my hardest to avoid a Mary-Sue)…. Oh and I don't own Avengers! **

"Miss Mira!" the sound of several children reached them as the pair approached the orphanage, the younger kids running from the garden to greet her, Bruce chuckled as he watched them all start hugging her, soon their combined weight was too much and she collapsed to her knees, children all talking a mile a minute, catching her up on what she missed.

"Leo stole my dolly," one girl whined.

"Leo, did you really?" Mira looked stern as she regarded a boy who looked to be 10 as he couldn't keep the eye contact up.

"I'm sorry, Mira," he mumbled.

"Don't apologize to me, give Liz her doll back and apologize to her," her tone was still stern but she gave him a soft smile when he nodded and took off to retrieve the doll, Liz trailing after.

"Who's that man, Miss Mira?" one of the older looking children asked.

"My good friend, Bruce," Mira stood again, as all the kids were off doing their own thing again, some stragglers still watching him and Mira suspiciously.

"You aren't 'spose to have other friends," the youngest pouted up at her.

"Oh, Annie, you're still my bestest girl," Mira picked her up and tossed her up playfully, causing her to giggle uncontrollably, "I was hoping we could all be friends, why don't you give Bruce a chance?"

"Okay," the little girl was set back down, Mira watched with an amused smile as she tottered over and took Bruce's hand, leading him to the "pwetty flowers."

"I'm going to go tell the sisters we're here, I'll be right back," Mira shot Bruce one last grin before heading in the back door.

"Oh, Mira, I'm glad you made the trip safely," Sister Lauren poked her head out of a living room, her smile was wide as the two hugged, "sweetest one, you've been like the daughter I never had, I believe in you."

"But how can I help? They expect so much," Mira looked up, her eyes searching, Sister Lauren had never seen her look so lost.

"Come, love, let us get some tea and talk."

"I should go get Bruce first, I left him out there with the kids," Mira smiled softly at the idea of timid, angry, frightened Bruce being taken out of his shell, hopefully.

"So you did bring someone, and a man," Lauren smiled knowingly as Mira blushed lightly.

"I- I did tell you I may have someone come with me," Mira looked out the sliding glass window, watching as Bruce sat Indian style as the children sat around him, listening to him intently, as Annie stuck flowers in his hair. Her eyes softened and the sweetest smile Lauren had ever seen on her face.

"Yes, you did, how long have you knew this man?"

"Oh, we only met yesterday?"

"Only a day? So you met him yesterday and already you are bringing him to the children?" Lauren watched the girl she saw grow up. Mirach never jumped into anything, the Sister had never met a more cautious child before, she grew out of most of her fears, but her fear of losing those she loved stuck, preventing her getting close to others. This man was either remarkable or Mira was just clinging to anything stable in her time of need.

"Yeah, I figured we both deserved a break, everything has been so hectic and crazy," the sister watched as Mira approached the seated man, he looked older than her. The look he gave her was gentle, happy as Mira sat beside him, blushing as he plucked a flower out of his hair and tucked it behind her ear. Maybe there was more to him than meets the eye, the nun thought as she watched the two laugh, her thoughts were interrupted from the shrill scream of the kettle.

"Tea time, Mira, Bruce," Sister Lauren called out, she watched as Bruce stood, lending a hand to Mira, who gratefully accepted. Mira brushed off her skirt as she followed behind Bruce, seating herself beside him and Sister Lauren.

"I believe we haven't been properly introduced, my name is Bruce Banner," he lifted his hand to the woman, who was scrutinizing him.

"I am Sister Lauren, would you like peppermint, green tea, or Earl Gray?" the woman asked as she retrieved the tea from the nearby cabinet.

"Oh, um peppermint is fine thank you," Bruce smiled at the nun as she gently set the bag into his cup, setting one into her own and Mira's as well, before sitting down again.

"So, what are your intentions with our Mira, one sugar or two?" the sister ignored Mira's indignant look and Bruce's flushed, confused face.

"Oh, erm two is good," Bruce looked to Mira for help, feeling a bit frantic as she shrugged her own face confused at the nun's questions.

"You take your tea like Mira," she said as she dumped the same amount in the wide eyed girl's cup, "Well, Bruce, are you planning on courting her?" Bruce was at a loss, he looked to Mira, whose face was in her hands hiding her flaming face.

"I-I don't know, I haven't- er, courted anyone in a long time," Bruce began, trying to be delicate as the nun looked sharply at him.

"Yes, I did notice you are older than our Mira, I'm not sure I approve yet," the nun raised her cup, sipping on the tea thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure what you're getting at, but I feel a bit offended," Bruce's strained smile went to his face, "it's none of your business what Mira and I do, a good friend of mine told me that I should 'screw the rules and society,' and that's what I intend to do, if Mira's willing, I would love to take her on a date, after saving the world of course."

"And that's the kind of man Mira needs, one who would be with her no matter what, you have my blessings, my son," the nun smiled, that damned woman baited him, well at least he proved his worth to her. He chanced a glance at a shocked Mira, her mind was reeling he could tell.

"Thanks, Mira, I'm sorry it wasn't more- uh romantic, but um would you like to go out to dinner sometime," his smile was uneasy as he watched several emotions cross her face, confusion made her crinkle her nose.

"I-I would love to," Mira's face burst into a smile, her happiness made the room feel warm and he felt elated.

"Great, now I'd hate to cut the reunions and happy moments short, but you two are needed," the current occupants of the room all didn't notice Agent Coulson standing in the doorway, looking tired.

"Oh, um of course, I'll see you later then Sister," Mira grinned as she was engulfed in a warm, loving hug.

"Be safe, my sweet," the woman turned her attention to Bruce, pulling him into a hug, "you keep her safe, and if you hurt her, all the angels in heaven couldn't keep me from coming after you."

Bruce blinked in shock; did a nun just threaten him? Well there was a first for everything, he thought as Mira grabbed his hand, leading him to the car, the day's events still swirling madly in their heads as the car drove off, Mira's hand still in his own making Bruce smile widely, whatever was going to happen, he knew she would be there beside him, he only knew her for a short time, but he felt a connection with this soft little woman next to him.

**AN:/Hope you enjoyed this chapter, Reviews would be nice! Hopefully I can continue updating, any ideas and comments are welcome and would help spur me on **


	9. Chapter 9

**And here is chapter nine, thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites, here is a bit of a further look into Mira's abilities, enjoy! Oh and I don't own Avengers! **

"Fury, sir, you needed me?" Mira stood alone now, urging Bruce to return to the lab.

"Yes, Larkson, we need you to try again with Loki, Tony and Bruce are not making any breakthroughs anytime soon, and you seemed to be able to make him comply, at least until you lost control of yourself."

"Not my fault, I can read people sure, and I can be very convincing sometimes, but what I do cannot compare to his own powers," Mira frowned as Thor stepped forward, placing a hand on her head.

"You are named after a star, I can see you burn with an intensity that fits your name. Mirach, you have something he does not, you make people want to follow you while he forces it upon others," Thor looked down thoughtfully, "that is why he forced his feeling upon you, to try and get you to be like him, to feel the same."

"I- I don't want that, he felt toxic. I wouldn't want to be like that," Mira looked scared, as she tried to reign in her emotions, it would do no good to be so emotionally unstable when she met with Loki.

"Then be yourself, Star child," Thor smiled as he walked with her to Loki's cell, Fury watching on the screen back in the safety of the control room.

"Well, back again? And with Thor too, are you afraid of losing yourself to me?" Loki sneered, finding Mira's determined gaze, as she nodded at Thor. After the door was opened and she was allowed in, Thor walked away, deciding to stay close by this time, standing out in the hall to watch the exchange.

"Hey, sorry I left so abruptly last time," her voice was sweet as she sat on the ground.

"Here, get off the ground," Loki made a sweeping gesture and two chairs appeared.

"Thank you," Mira swung the chair around, so the back was creating a barrier between the two.

"So, to what do I owe this visit?"

"Oh, you know I just can't seem to stay away, you are pretty interesting. How does it feel to live on Earth, the books claim Asgard is the most beautiful land of all, I would hate it if I were you," Mira looked into his eyes, hers unblinking as she ignored everything in her that told her not to look into those cold blues.

"So, you came to learn about me? You want to know my motives, correct?" Loki was good, he could read people better than she could, but two could play at that game.

"As you may know, I'm an orphan too," Mira had a distant look in her eyes, "unlike you, I never had anyone willing to be my family, I grew up with a bunch of other kids and nuns as parental figures."

"Oh? And you think I am lucky? To have people who felt enough pity to take me in," Loki brought his face a bit closer; he could practically smell the fear and sadness in her.

"Yes, I do," Mira forced a smile as she looked to the ceiling, her nerves getting the best of her, "there is nothing worse than feeling unwanted, and you at least have those who care enough to want to protect you."

"You know nothing of me," Loki's tone was low and dangerous.

"Then tell me, how am I wrong," Mira sounded tired in that instant, Loki almost felt pity for the diminutive girl, he felt an urge to help her.

Frowning he killed those feelings, she was tricky, using everything she had to get him to fold, but he would not, smirking he put his plan in action. He knew the beast would be watching; time to put his magic to good use. Everyone said his silver tongue was most powerful, but he knew his illusions were where his power and wicked mind flourished.

"They saved me, yes, but I was nothing to them," Loki glared at the honey eyed girl, her gaze was sad, she pitied him, "they made me believe it was my home, but they did not even entertain the idea of me as king. No, they could not have a monster on the throne."

"You think yourself a monster?" Mira looked into those crystal blue eyes, trying to really see into his soul, "no, you are what you make yourself into."

"And now you try and appeal to my humanity? Silly Álfar, I'm not human, I have none," Loki smirked at Mira.

"Why would you want to rule over us then? It would be no different than you on the throne of Asgard, ruling over those who are nothing like you. Poor Loki, he had a nice life, but his need for acceptance and power made him bitter," Mira decided to try a different path, anything to get him to fall into one of her traps, as soon as she can get control of his emotions, his thoughts weren't far behind.

"Baiting won't work either," Loki glared at her; this woman was not going to give up, "I deserve to rule, I told you this before, nothing will stand in my way."

"Oh, there will be plenty that will stand in your way, that's one crazy thing about humans, they just don't give up," Mira smiled wistfully thinking of all her new friends; at least she hoped they were friends.

"And those who do will die," Loki stared into her eyes, as if daring her to stand in his way.

"Why? That is hypocritical, I hate when people say that, as if the others were personally against them when really it's the other way around," Mira smirked as she stood to her full height, finally taller than a sitting Loki.

"Well, aren't you spunky, acting all big and strong and righteous," Loki sneered as he regarded the girl, "it's not me you should worry about, it's those closest to you."

Mira furrowed her eyebrows as she thought about what he said, why would her teammates be against her? "Ah, you don't have to worry about lil' ol' me, I should be just fine, I may look weak, but I can hold my own."

Loki sneered, he saw some truth to her words, he could see she had commendable powers and despite being small he could see some sort of strength residing in her, "what did he do to you, there is something you're not letting on."

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know," Mira taunted as she watched the chairs dissolve, Loki stood to his full height towering over her easily.

"Yes, I would, I don't like it when things are kept from me."

"No one can be all knowing, Loki. No matter how hard you pry you won't be able to break everything you come across."

"I can and I will, you see, nothing can be hidden from me," Loki started closing the space between them, surprised to see her standing her ground, "why are you different now, I broke you in minutes last time."

"Because, I have back up now," Mira glanced to the hall where she could still feel Thor, strong and resolute, "that's the good thing about teammates; they always have your back."

"Ah, I see now, you're more tricky than I thought," Loki had a feeling it was Thor in the hall, he had dropped her off and he is one of the most emotionally stubborn people he has ever met.

"I told you, Loki, I can hold my own. I know what I can take and what I can't so I asked him to be my rock, so to speak," Mira smiled as she reached out to touch his arm, physical contact would have been impossible the other day, but with Thor acting as a metaphorical beacon in Loki's emotional storm.

"What are you doing? Are you sure you're strong enough?" Loki smirked, feeling her doubt, she had opened a link between them, and could feel what she did, and he felt what could only be Thor, his presence like a heartbeat, strong and steady, he wondered if he could access Thor through her. Slowly extending out his mind to the link between Mira and Thor, Loki was shocked when he was drug back to her.

"I think I am," Mira smirked now.

There was nothing Loki wanted more than to wipe off that cocky little grin of hers, he didn't like this Mira who was backed up by Thor, he could feel strength rolling off of her, unable to tap into it himself. This was not part of his plan; Mira was a little more complex than originally anticipated. He felt her searching him, nothing felt more horrible yet wonderful, and wherever she was she left a trail of her warmth behind. Narrowing his eyes in concentration, he slowly ended his illusion smirking at his own ingeniousness.

"You are plotting against me, I can tell," Mira was staring into his eyes, lost in his mind, unable to make sense of any feelings she could read, "or maybe you are using me to plot against everyone, how?"

"Empathy is a horrible power, isn't it? You can tell others' emotions like it were second nature, but you can't get me to tell you anything."

"I already told you that I don't want to control other people," Mira was shifting through as fast as she could, trying to get in and out before he could close himself off.

"You think you are stronger than a god?" Loki sneered as he felt her strength begin to falter, something was happening, Thor's presence was getting distant.

"No, I'm only as strong as others make me," Mira frowned as she quickly let go, her eyes were glazed and tired as she backed away as quick as she could, she wasn't feeling Thor's comforting strength anymore, she was alone with Loki, and in over her head.

**AN:/Hope you enjoyed this chapter, Reviews would be nice! Hopefully I can continue updating, any ideas and comments are welcome and would help spur me on!**


	10. Chapter 10

**And here is chapter ten, thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites, this will be mostly in the science bros, enjoy! Oh and I don't own Avengers! **

Tony couldn't keep the teasing grin off his face, "I told you, and I don't know why everyone doubts me."

"We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, she just agreed to a date after this whole fiasco is over," Bruce couldn't keep the grin off his face though as he thought of the pixie saying yes.

"Exactly, you know she wants you, now you just reel her in."

"Are you comparing her to a fish?" Bruce rolled his eyes at Tony's immaturity, for a genius he was pretty crazy, funny and a good guy, but possibly insane, maybe Mira should check that out.

"Maybe, you know she does have those big lips and her eyes, it's not too far off," Tony laughed at his own joke, Mira as a fish popped into his mind, it was oddly sexy, shaking the bizarre image out of his head he turned back to Doctor Banner.

"She doesn't look like a fish," Bruce groaned as he sat down, running his hands down his face, "I think Fury is going to toss her back into the cage with Loki."

"Really? Poor thing, that's gotta suck, while we get be all sciency, she has to tango with Rock of Ages," Tony was proud of his nicknames he made, spot on he thought.

"I'm worried about her. You didn't see her after the last time. It was like walking into a pressure chamber."

"Would it make you feel better if you watched them?" Tony frowned; the mood left the lab as Bruce glanced up and nodded.

Rapid typing ensued, as Tony finally brought up the feed from the oversized fish tank, Mira was sitting across from Loki, the two were having a stare off it seemed, both sitting in chairs leaning towards each other.

"Wonder how their powers are working," Tony at that moment looked like a scientist, ready to dissect and test.

"Does it matter? As long as she's able to handle it," Bruce was watching intently, it was hard to make out their words as the two talked, her words were smooth and soft as she talked, making it hard to hear exact words, he heard them mention monsters and then her tone changed, sharp and biting as she told Loki off. He felt a twinge of anger as Loki smirked at her outburst, taking her face in his hand and smoothly asking her again to be his queen.

At first Mira pulled back, making Bruce felt proud of her fighting him with such ferocity, but his heart dropped when Loki caught her by the shoulders, leaning in and whispering something. The girl leaned into his touch as she gave a short laugh and blushed.

"Uh, maybe we should change it to the history channel," Tony said awkwardly as he heard the watch Bruce wore begin to beep.

"No," he grumbled, as his knuckles turned white as he gripped the table.

Tony's eyes widened when Mira stood up on her tip toes to kiss Loki passionately, quickly shutting off the monitor, his gaze shifting uneasily to Bruce, as he finally pushed on his head piece calling up Fury, "hey, were you watching the video feed?"

"Yes, I am, what are you getting at Stark? Mira and Thor are handling Loki nicely," Fury responded.

Tony turned away and dropped his voice, "since when is fraternizing with the enemy handling things nicely?"

"What are you talking about Stark? Since when is giving a guy hell 'fraternizing,'" Fury bit back.

"Did you not see the make out session between the two? I get that having one eye make it difficult but-"

"Stark, you need to calm down, what I'm seeing is Mira threatening Loki, unfortunately it isn't working as well as she likes."

"That makes no sense, we were just watching and the two were in a very heated lip lock," Tony glanced back through the glass as he watched Bruce struggling with himself, "damn, code green."

"Code green? Stark do you know what you're even talking about?" Fury was getting fed up with Tony Stark.

"Yeah, Bruce saw his girly making out with the enemy, if there's ever been a code green, this would be it," Tony's voice was void of laughter.

"Christ, Loki's more trouble than we thought, I'll get Mira out of there. You think you can calm Banner down?"

"I guess I can try, may need some back up if I fail though," Tony said as he made his way to Bruce's side, hearing Fury tell one of his agents to retrieve Thor and get him to the lab ASAP.

"Hey, buddy, you know what we saw wasn't real, right?" Tony looked down at the struggling man, feeling for him.

"It-it looked real, so real. Why would Loki- he's trying to bring out the other guy," Bruce looked down at his clutching hands and the beeping watch warning him of his speeding heart, angry now at himself for falling for it so easily, all logic left him when he saw Mira with him.

"Yeah, he fooled us both," Tony frowned as he now thought about how stupid it was to believe Mira would do that, he saw her yesterday in a state after leaving him and the way she looked at Bruce was too loving to just give it up for power.

"But how? He's locked up, how did he know we would be watching?"

"My brother is intelligent and scheming," Thor was standing in the door, watching Bruce cautiously.

"Yes, but that still doesn't explain why he would do all this," Tony was startled out of his musings by a yelling Fury, all he heard was something about Mira in trouble, "speaking of Loki, it sounds like something's happened."

"I left her alone," Thor looked like he was just slapped.

"So?"

"Mira had a plan that I would stand near her so she could use me as an anchor to keep her grounded, so Loki's emotions wouldn't over take her." Thor rushed away then, Bruce and Tony quickly following as they made their way to the cage.

"What's happening?" Captain America headed them off and started following the group.

"Mira was interrogating Loki, it seems something has gone wrong," Thor explained.

"Interrogating? As in you left her alone with a madman and told her to probe him?" Steve sighed as he hoped for the best; the civilian girl did not need to be involved in this.

"It was a good idea at the time," Tony shrugged. The rag tag team arrived to see Loki standing over a seizing Mira, her eyes wide and a look of pain on her face.

"Get her out of there," Fury stormed in, without a second thought Tony opened up the door as Bruce and Steve rushed in for Mira, Steve staying back as he watched Bruce gently cradle the now still girl in his arms.

"Be okay," Bruce said into her hair as he looked into her unseeing eyes. Steve frowned, he definitely missed something.

The group left quickly, their first priority was to get her to the med bay as quickly as they could and find out what happened to her. After setting her up to all the machines, checking for any responsiveness, she was ruled catatonic. Bruce, Thor, and Tony decided to check the real footage to see what happened themselves, hoping their combined knowledge could figure out what happened.

**AN:/Hope you enjoyed this chapter, Reviews would be nice! Hopefully I can continue updating, any ideas and comments are welcome and would help spur me on**


	11. Chapter 11

**And here is chapter eleven, thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites, so this chapter will feature Mira's past, enjoy! Oh and I don't own Avengers!**

Mira looked around, she had no idea where she was, and the darkness was too overwhelming. Squinting her eyes to try to see, she could just make out a dull, flickering light in the distance. Trying to follow it carefully she stumbled a few times over chairs and overturned tables, what was going on?

"Y-yes, that's it, make him pull the trigger, make him commit the worst sin," Mira's eyes widened, she knew that voice, she knew where- or when- she was.

Creeping along she saw herself standing over a sobbing man with a gun in his mouth, she was thrown back to her one of the worst moments of her life.

"Shut up, just shut up," the past her sounded hysterical, kneeling down she whispered in the kneeling man's ear, she remember what she told him, that it wasn't his fault, he was just doing his job, the man to blame, the man who ruins everything he touches deserved to die. After being experimented on for weeks she knew what she was doing, she knew how to get what she wanted, and she didn't want this man's blood on her hands. She remembered she had wanted His blood. The Mira from the flashback watched the guard turn his weapon on the man who tortured her, who changed her, who broke her.

"No- Mira, honey, don't do this, I love-" but he was cut off with the old Mira's laughter, causing her to cringe as she watched the events play out.

"You wouldn't do this to someone you loved," she said as she turned to the guard; "this man takes innocent people and hurts them, would you let a monster like that live?"

"No, he is a monster who must be killed," the guard answered, he seemed conflicted, that wouldn't do.

"Did he tell you what he did to me, he tricked me, played with my heart, and cut me open, injected me with chemicals that could have killed me, he tortured me to see if all he did worked to his standards, and he wants to do it to others, you could be next."

Mira watched herself convince the man to raise his gun to the enemy's heart, she stared in horror as he pulled the trigger and the man who created her died again. Stumbling away she fell onto a table, the light above her becoming brighter, when she went to get up, she found she couldn't move.

"Calm down, my little kitten, this is for your own good, I promise," the man was alive again, scalpel in hand, face and hair covered by the PPE, for an instant his normal wicked green eyes turned a crystal blue and she was staring up at Loki, but that faded as pain cut through her. The scalpel had entered her stomach, she nearly forgotten about the pain of all his operations, but she remembered now as she relived all his incisions and prodding and injections. She watched him work, trying to withstand the pain, wondering why she was all of a sudden reliving the experiences.

She knew what came next, blackness, as she passed out, her body unable to take the abuse. The next time she awoke she was bandaged up, he had reorganized the structure and makeup of her body, as far as biology was concerned she was no longer human, most of her organs were untouched, but she knew she was screwed up internally. She would find that out when the nice government people x-rayed her and tested her themselves to see what was 'wrong' with her. Why was she reliving all of her most painful memories?

Waking up, she wasn't on the table as she expected, but waking up from her old apartment's bed. She felt stirring next to her. Rolling over in his embrace she looked into his peaceful face. If only she had known, all those years ago. She remembered falling head over heels; he seemed like the perfect package. His tousled blonde hair and facial hair weren't what she normally went for, but she fell regardless. He cracked open his eyes, bright green flashed as he smirked and pulled her into his embrace further, kissing her good morning before jumping out of bed and padding to the bathroom to get ready for the morning. She wasn't in control of her body as she went about her day, fixing breakfast and sitting down with him.

"You'll come by for lunch, right?" she remembered the day then, he was so insistent the night before, he claimed he had a surprise for her.

"Of course," she responded and kissed him goodbye as he grabbed his backpack and headed out for work.

She knew that she would walk into a trap, but she couldn't stop herself as she got ready and went about her day, finally heading to his lab. As she greeted a guard and got into the elevator, she felt more and more reluctance and fear. There was a sharp sting before she watched herself fall at her feet, back out of her past self's body again.

What was happening? She could tell she was going backwards in time. Last thing she remembered she was in the cage with Loki, feeling all his rage full force, Thor's presence was no longer there and she was alone as she was overtaken. She went through her first date with him, meeting him at a psychology seminar where he intrigued her with all of his theories, being mugged, and her time in the orphanage, feeling alone and unwanted. She was afraid of what would happen when she reached the end of her memories, maybe move on to the good ones? She felt a strange presence beside her and was confused for a moment, not knowing what was happening as she watched herself sitting alone in the public library; reading was one of her escapes. Glancing over, she saw Bruce, looking around confused.

"Mira, where are we?"

"Boston public library," she turned her attention back to herself, only 15 and already too grown up.

"How did I get here?"

"I have no idea, for all I know; I'm going crazy and thought you up."

"No, I think I must have fallen asleep watching over you, Loki did something to you. What's going on?"

"I get to reminisce some my worst memories, I think Loki put so much of his sadness and anger that I get to relive when I felt the same."

"How'd I get here?" Bruce noticed the small brunette girl, knees pulled up to her chest as she read a book.

"Look, it's the nerd, figured you'd be in here," another little girl walked up, she had long straight brown hair and big blue eyes, "since you don't have a home you run off to the library. You think you're so smart, taking the top spot from me."

"I-I'm just reading, I don't want any trouble," the girl was skittish, Bruce noticed. The blue eyed girl grabbed the book and tossed it behind her back.

"My mother wants me to be the smartest, so that means you should dumb yourself down."

"I was told by the sisters to always try my best though," Bruce realized then that the short teenager was Mira herself, there was no mistaking those big honey colored eyes.

"Well, look at it this way, we won't pick on you anymore and you don't have to do your work, it's a win-win situation."

"I guess I could drop a few points," little Mira's whole being slumped. Satisfied the girl and her little gang left, leaving Mira to pick up her book the bullies threw and putting it back up.

"I always hated that girl," Mira glanced back at Bruce for the first time since his arrival, "she always made fun of the fact I didn't have parents."

Bruce was a bit concerned at her hopeless look, he wondered what Loki was making her go through, "We all had those people in our life, and now look at you, saving the world."

"Yeah, I'm doing such a good job," Mira smiled lightly as she looked around them, the library was still around them but everyone from the flashback disappeared.

"Thor made a mistake, you did nothing wrong," Bruce smiled lightly, "and you have the team now, backing you up, Thor's face when he realized you were in trouble was so devastated, he and Tony cares and so do I."

"I-but- you haven't known me but for a couple days, why would any of you guys care," Mira was shocked, no one really ever cared, especially so much after such a short time.

"It shouldn't take that long to find you like someone, especially someone like you," Bruce noticed that the library was fading out to white, "what's happening?"

"I-I'm not sure, it could be because I'm feeling less of Loki's hold," Mira grinned then, "I'm feeling my emotions now, less bitterness and more hope."

"Does that mean you're waking up?"

"I sure hope so, this was getting really depressing," Mira gave a weak laugh as Bruce too faded with the library, completely vanishing, leaving her alone in the white nothingness."

**AN:/ And end! Next chapter I hope to be up soon, it will be in the team's pov more than Mira's. You get to see what was happening while Mira was in her little coma. Thanks again for the reviews, keep them coming. I love feedback; any advice, comment, criticism is welcome and appreciated.**


	12. Chapter 12

**And here is chapter twelve, thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites, so this chapter will be following Bruce and the others more, enjoy! Oh and I don't own Avengers!**

"Hey, Bruce, rise and shine," the voice of Tony shook him awake, making him jump.

"Hey, how long was I out?" Bruce asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Eh, I think only 2 hours, thought you would like to go with us to see Loki," Tony regarded Mira, who looked the same when he and the others had first brought her, plus some wires.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Bruce was pissed off enough and didn't need to see the man who worked so hard to hurt Mira. His mind drifted back to his dream of Mira, she seemed like she was fine, after his visit at least, shaking the thoughts out of his head he stood and stretched, it felt like longer than just two hours, his back felt all knotted up and his brain was moving slowly. Bending over Mira's still form, he brushed some hair behind her ear, that second of contact sent a feeling of emptiness through him.

"You should be fine, whatever you do to keep cool seems to work out for you," Tony smirked, "besides Thor and I will be there too, so we'll keep you both in line."

"Gee, thanks," Bruce sighed, Tony was his first friend in a long time, but the playboy loved to try his nerves. He'd take an annoying friend who talks too much than none, so he sucked it up, grateful for the support regardless of what form it came in.

"Right, so off we go!" Tony seemed too happy today, though Bruce knew most of it was sarcasm and his own way of putting on an air, Tony Stark had to be seen as the aloof playboy billionaire.

"Ok, I guess," Bruce wanted to know what Loki did to her, and why she posed on serious threat. Sending the prone Mira a glance, Bruce left the small hospital bay, following behind Tony.

"Brother, you must release Mira from her magical slumber," Bruce heard Thor thunder.

"It's not my fault she was overwhelmed," Loki grinned wickedly, "and if she didn't feel the same way then she wouldn't have fallen into her comatose state. Did you know she used her powers to kill a man, you think she's so wonderful, she fooled you all."

"Ah, yeah, we all know you are known for telling the truth," Tony interrupted the brothers' conversation, "why would you even try to overwhelm her? Putting her into a coma is uncalled for; it's obvious she isn't a threat to you."

"Oh, but she is," Loki grimaced, "I am a god, but her powers possess something I cannot fight, she exudes this warmth and it makes me want to follow it, and she was harder to fight off this time, so when Thor left, and took half her strength with him, I struck."

"And you're so proud of yourself at beating a girl," Tony said, Bruce rolled his eyes, Tony always loved to egg people on, "congrats."

"She's not just girl, you don't even realize the scope of her powers," Loki grinned, "oh but you'll see soon enough."

As if on cue, the lights flickered off, and for a moment they were plunged into darkness, before the emergency lights burst to life and a red light above the door began to flash obnoxiously.

"Brother, what have you done?"

"Just you wait, Mirach has awoken, the thing that was created 6 years ago has resurfaced," Loki smirked, "now you'll see the truth that was hidden from you."

The sound of gun shots rang out, shocking all the Avengers out of their temporary confusion, they all watched in shock as Mira entered the room, flanked by SHEILD agents, weapons trained on everyone in the room, including Loki.

"Ah, all my teammates, I didn't expect you to be here, then again, everything that is happening is Loki's fault, the wicked man should be punished," Mira her voice cold and hard but somehow still sweet, made a strange chill creep down the Avenger's spine.

"At the moment keeping him alive is necessary," Tony fought against the sudden urge to kill the god of mischief.

"But why? He isn't going to tell us anything, and everything is already put into action, what use is he to us?" Her words were like nudges, each one pushing the team to a ledge that they were afraid to go near.

"So, you are the one who Mira has been hiding, the monster that your love created out of his thirst for power, guess he didn't think messing with a human's brain is more dangerous than he bargained for," Loki smirked at the twisted human as she approached the cage, setting a hand on it's surface.

"You both have that in common, unleashing something that neither can control or hope to fight," Mira snapped her attention to one of the agents, "open the door, I would like to speak to Loki, make sure you shut it after me, and don't let the group of outcasts in." Her command was strong, everyone feeling it's power, and they watched as the guard did as he was told.

"Mira, please don't do this," Bruce was fearful of what Mira would do, her eyes seemed cold and uncaring.

"You are a monster, like me," Mira cast a grin his way, "you should be following me, the two of us could have unlimited power."

"No, I-I can't, last time- no," Bruce fought her more than she thought possible, and she thought for sure that her powers combined with his feelings for her, he would bend for her.

"You would be able to learn how to control yourself with me," Mira said with a soft smile, "think on that." She continued to the "god" though no one was invincible, if he breathed, if he pulsed with life, then it could be taken away.

"So, you aim to kill me? After I offered you a throne, a position at my side," Loki smirked at the girl, if she was going to kill him, then he wasn't going to be a coward.

"No, I feel you're continued existence will be amusing," Mira grinned then, her smile was unnerving as the girl stood before him.

"Then why did you choose to visit me?" Loki didn't see that coming, the little girl stood on her tip toes, leaning towards him.

"Because, you will fail, Earth will meet this obstacle with a force you never imagined," Mira whispered into his ear, knowing no one else would hear these next words, "but there will later be a greater force that may be too much, and we will need your help, and if I spare you, you will owe me your life, because you were raised to be an honorable man, despite your nature."

Loki looked slightly unnerved by Mirach's prediction, her eyes seemed bottomless, her pupils taking up most of her eyes now that her powers were fully unleashed, "and how do you know this?"

"I can feel it, you are already prepared for loss and the Avengers are willing to risk everything to keep themselves and those they love alive, they have something worth fighting for, all you have is your misguided agenda."

Loki, deep down, knew Mirach was right, but his anger and indignance rose at the matter of fact tone she possessed; she acted like she was all powerful and all knowing. With growing frenzy, Loki went to punch Mira, but with that self satisfied grin, she easily dodged it.

"You are an open book," Mira looked into his eyes, they were a wicked blue, power from the tesseract was surging through him, possibly to the point of controlling him. The same blue that for a moment looked down on her as He dissected her, her one love whose name and face she forced herself to forget, the man who she knew was responsible for her anger and caution and fear.

"Am I? Then why can't you make me do as you ask? I am a God, compared to you," Loki smirked as the girl puffed herself up, trying to look powerful.

"You, are lucky I have use for you yet," and with that, Mira strode out, her smirk as she passed the Avengers unnerved them, the SHEILD agents followed her out, and as the Avengers would learn later, she and her new found followers stole a helicopter and the group made a hasty escape. The team didn't know how to feel, a healthy combination of guilt, anger, and betrayal coursed through them. Bruce sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, his watch beeping out of control; he jumped when he felt a hand land on his shoulder.

"Are you going to be okay?" Tony was having one of his rare serious moments, causing Bruce to give a slight smile as he nodded, that thing was not Mira, he knew that.

"I-I think I'll be fine," Bruce frowned, "where do you think she went?"

"Who knows, it seems she's at least not against us," Tony grinned at that, "and she seems stronger, I mean did you feel her? She was like a freakin' Jedi."

"I do not know of this Jedi, but I do know that she is not to be trifled with, and we should try and bring the Mira we know back," Thor looked down at the ground, he knew Mira lost herself because he left her behind, dealing with Loki when one could feel his emotions would be bad for anybody. Tony nodded, as Bruce looked to Loki, who was glaring at the door Mira left out of, yes, this new Mira was not the woman he cared for.

**AN:/ And end! Thanks again for the reviews, keep them coming. I love feedback; any advice, comment, criticism is welcome and appreciated.**


	13. Chapter 13

**And here is chapter thirteen, thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites, so this chapter will be following Bruce and the others more, enjoy! Oh and I don't own Avengers!**

Mira was confused, to say the least, Bruce had disappeared and she thought for sure she would wake up and all would be well, but everything felt wrong. She was still floating in that nothingness, the white hurting her eyes.

"B-Bruce?" Mira called out, her voice echoing.

"Well hello, again," Mira knew that voice, knew that it was her own, only cold and cruel.

"Who are you?" Mira had to be strong, for the others and herself, but she couldn't help feel her heart sink as she stared at herself, but she looked different, her face was all planes, her eyes were cold and harsh and green, and her hair appeared black, instead of the usual softer dark brown.

"I'm you," the other her smirked at the confusion on Mira's face, "I suppose I am what you always suppressed, all the feelings you collected from the others; Bruce's anger, Loki's malice, Tony's narcissism, you took a little from everyone you ever came in contact with without knowing it, and then I was born, it took the mental overstimulation of your encounter with Loki and your own feelings of inadequacy to give me my chance to take over."

"So, wait, you are everyone's worse traits?" Mira asked; this was never what she wanted, the only time she ever lost control she was quick to regain it, now she was unsure she would be able to.

"And some of their best, yes, I am not some monster, I just care more about myself and my goals than the little people, I am what you have been unconsciously repressing ever since you were first given the powers you are so afraid of."

"Why are you doing this then?" Mira was confused; this whole situation was out of her control, she thought everything was going to be fine, that she would finally get her first real relationship and be happy.

"I just want what you want, freedom and control, you have been tired of sitting back and doing as you were expected, and you hated it, deep down."

"And so now, you are going to help me? You don't know what I want, I just want to be happy," Mira didn't like how this second person in her brain was thinking.

"I know what you want, what Loki wants, even what your Bruce wants, this is what I am, a manifestation of all that everyone you know secretly wants," Mira shrugged away as the other her made her way to Mira, "you are too weak to live in this body, and so I will take over and take what we rightfully deserve, if I were you I'd just sit back and watch the fireworks, love."

And with that Mira was left alone, with a shock she was back in her body, feeling everything but unable to control herself as she walked to Loki's holding cell, she felt like a robot, unable to move or talk.

"Stop, please," Mira's voice was lost, weak.

"Oh, calm down, I may be bad, but I am not stupid," she heard her own voice mutter back, it wasn't long before she was approached by an agent, she felt herself smile.

"Miss Mira, what are you doing up and around, you should be resting," the agent knew her, he was one who she passed often, and once made small talk with.

"Oh, Agent Mason, it is good to see you," Mira smirked as she looked into his eyes, she knew what he wanted, it was what many want, time to manipulate, "you know, the life of an agent is not as exciting and rewarding as you thought. You find yourself performing menial, monotonous tasks, when you long for more."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right, I definitely did not see myself patrolling some airship's corridors," Mason let out a shaky laugh.

"Yes, you know, the world is bigger, better than this right here, there is more out there for you," Mira could feel herself lock into his consciousness, perfect.

"You're right; they don't respect me here, just another cog in the machine-"

"Yes, and it seems they use me too much, a normal citizen," Mira pouted, "how could they treat us so poorly, we want more, no _need_ more, follow me, Mason, and you shall do great things."

"I-I think you're right, you'd respect me, you'd get things done, I'd do more," Mason nodded with determination in his eyes. Mira grinned softly, yes, the more followers the better.

"Thank you Mason, we need more on our new team, who are the strongest, the smartest, the fastest?"

Mason looked thoughtful, "I know a few, follow me." And Mira did, humming all the way, her dark, cold eyes flickering to each agent they passes, assessing them silently. It did not take long to get a decent sized following, it was easy, appealing to their own personal senses of reason. With her twelve agents she finally made it to Loki's, her eyes hardened, feeling some of the Avengers in the room, that wouldn't stop her.

"Mira, please, stop what you're doing, it is wrong," stopping in her tracks, Mira cocked her head, yes, the one who possessed this body before was strong, but not strong enough.

"You should stop calling me that," she spoke softly, her voice somehow echoing in the halls, "I am not you, call me something else, name me something else, just stop saying I'm you."

Mira frowned; the being wanted to be so independent she refused her name, "Id."

"Id? Not very original, is it? But it is better than being confused for you." Id smirked, "are you ready, Mira? It is time for a confrontation."

Mira was afraid, this was not what was supposed to happen, this was all wrong, but what could she do? How could she fight against all of everyone's desires and nightmares?

**AN:/ And end! Thanks again for the reviews, keep them coming. I love feedback; any advice, comment, criticism is welcome and appreciated.**


	14. Chapter 14

**And here is chapter fourteen, quick warning, I don't remember all the right sequence of events, so I may be a bit off… thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites, enjoy! Oh and I don't own Avengers!**

"You see, now?" Loki was smirking at the dumbfounded 'Avengers' as they stared after Mira, "she was harboring such feelings, there is a side to her that should be feared."

"That wasn't Mira," Thor boomed, his blue eyes flashing, "do not believe him, my friends, she was pulled under by Loki's misgivings, we must bring her back."

"It didn't look like her," Tony snapped out of his stupor, "did you see her eyes, they were so dark, almost black."

"W-what do we do now? We have to find the cube and if we can't, fight a possible alien army and now Mira may be against us," Bruce was worn, everything was falling apart it seemed, Mira was gone, she made a way into his heart with her bubbly, loving nature.

"Don't listen to Loki or that- thing," Tony scrunched his nose at the thought, the girl who just left was a monster, not the sweet little thing that took a shining to all of the freaks and misfits.

"Yes, do not fret, Bruce Bannerson," Thor patted the man on the back roughly, he knew how he felt, not too long ago he was in his place, and Loki was the one who went off the handle.

"I guess you're right, the sooner we find the cube the sooner we can get Mira back," Bruce left a disappointed Loki. The god of mischief was sure his plan would have worked this time, if the monster thought his beauty was straying then he would lose control, but somehow he stayed in control, even when she had abandoned him, time for plan B.

-Little time skip-

Bruce ran shaking hands through his hair, remembering not too long ago Mira had ran a small hand through it, helping him get out all the flowers the orphans put in.

The voices of all the other team arguing about what to do about Mira put him on edge.

"Let's just get to her when we figure the more pressing matters, or have you forgot, Loki and his army of aliens," Steve was surprisingly on Tony's side.

"You seem to forget, Mira is controlling some of my best men, and is off doing whatever she wants, she needs to be taken care of," Natasha was playing the part of Fury's right man, as usual, with Agent Hill as backup, it was maddening.

"Can you guys just leave my lab so I can continue to do my work," Bruce was done with this, the sooner he could get back to the work, the sooner he could find Mira and get her back, and go on the date she promised him.

"I'm with Brucey here, Mira is a threat in her current… state, but we need to focus on one thing at a time," Tony patted Bruce's shoulder, by the end of today it was going to be bruised with all its abuse.

"Fine, you two can continue working on tracking the Tesserect, Agent Hill, send some men to track down and keep tabs on Mira, tell them do not engage, you hear?"

"Yes, sir," and with that she left, leaving only the Avengers to themselves, Bruce and Tony getting back to work as Natasha left to do whatever she does, followed by the others who felt out of place in a lab.

"I hate that I can't do more, that I can't save her, the other guy will always get in the way. You know I was thinking about it earlier, what if we did end up together and we are perfectly happy, but she does something silly that just pisses me off… I don't want to hurt her for some stupid reason."

"You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart," Tony tapped his mini-arc reactor, "This stops it, this little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege."

"But you can control it," Bruce could see Tony was trying to help, but he knew he couldn't stay here, and now it seemed he wasn't the only unstable one.

"Because I learned how," Tony shoved the computer Bruce was trying to read to force him to look.

"It's different," Bruce couldn't maintain eye contact, Tony was too intense.

"Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you," Tony could have shook him, he wasn't getting it, his happiness mattered, his life mattered.

"So you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Save it for what?" Bruce smirked at Tony's momentary loss for words.

"I guess we'll find out," Tony got back to the computer; he had to save the world, to save Pepper.

"You might not like that," Bruce knew he was right, Tony had no idea how dangerous he was, they built an indestructible cage for him.

"You just might," Tony stared at him from behind his computer, finally looking away, unable to take Bruce's confused, defeated expression. He knew one thing for sure, Mira needed to get back, at the very least to get Bruce back on his feet.

**AN:/ And end! Thanks again for the reviews, keep them coming. I love feedback; any advice, comment, criticism is welcome and appreciated.**


	15. Chapter 15

**And here is chapter fifteen, quick warning, there will be a slight time skip from the last point… Thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites and for being patient with my delay, enjoy! Oh and I do not own Avengers!**

The enigma Id, sat on the outskirts of the city, Stark Tower was in sight. As much as she claimed to be different from Mira, she refused to see those helpless children get hurt, any helpless person really. They made her mad that they were all so oblivious to the looming danger, going about their days.

"_Why are you helping? I thought you were evil,"_ Mira asked as she floated around in that white nothingness.

"Because, silly girl, even though I am made up of all of those people you spend so much time with, I am mostly you," Id replied, "and I cannot see those close to us perish, at least not until I have purged you from this body."

Mira shuddered, like hell she would let her body be used by this maniac, who implied that she would kill Mira's friends and the children if she took over.

"Miss, the Avengers seem to be departing from their helicarrier. I believe it is time to go into battle," an agent they turned said with a quick bow, Henry was his name, and he was a good man, Mira held onto that, hoping to build up all the strength she could to use against Id.

"Yes, are you ready, Mira?" Id asked as she stood, gathering a gun she procured from the helicopter when they made their escape. She managed to gather a small squad to help fight against Loki and his forces. It did not take long for her to figure out where Loki would open the portal, she knew it couldn't be stopped until she had the Avengers on her side as well, she saw the hard way that Loki was not to be trifled with, at least not alone. Id made her way to the chopper, a cold smile spread across her face as her men followed closely behind, one hopping into the pilots chair and taking off. Just as they were over half way there a brilliant light pierced the sky above the tower and not a minute after the aliens were flooding out of the large hole created in the sky. It didn't take long to touch down where the "Avengers" were getting into battle stations themselves.

"You know what to do men, my protection comes first, then killing aliens, your safety and last citizens'," Id smiled at the men who gave her a salute, it was really too bad most of the men weren't going to make it.

"Well, well, look who it is," Tony Stark was suited up and was sneering at her, "so you still got a screw loose?"

"I would watch that tongue of yours, before I have one of my men cut it out," Id grinned before staring up at all the ships flying through the air, the aliens were bigger than she had imagined, but that would not be a problem, she could take them on.

"Well, as fun as this has been I have things to do, people to save," and with that Tony took off, doing a good job at dispatching the enemies' numbers.

"And what is it you can do? I thought you weren't built for war," Captain America asked.

Id smirked, "Mira isn't, but I am." Turning back to her men, she gave a nod before the men gave her one last salute before over half went off to engage the enemy while the rest stayed in a circle around the girl.

With a deep, steadying breath, Id took off, feeling the disbelief of the others before she got out of range. She was fast, and strong, nowhere near the super soldier or the "god," but she was biologically altered to be better than normal, and she would need it before the day was through. She unloaded her gun into as many of the aliens that she could before tossing it at one, knocking it out. Now would be the hard part. Bending over the unconscious alien, Id rested her hand on its head, dragging it back into consciousness.

Id, for a second looked like Mira again, a soft smile and kind eyes, "why are you killing us, we have done nothing to warrant this, please, help me. I just want us all to live; I don't want you or the humans to die." She felt a bend in the alien's brain before she reached out her other hand and touched its check. It was instantaneous. The feeling was always strange when she had control over something; it was almost as if a thread was connecting them, the puppet and puppeteer. Now she will win, now all will go as planned.

**And end! Sorry again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, Bruce will finally reappear in the next chapter, review and favorite! Also, I'm on the edge on what to do with Mira, I have several ideas (2 sad, one happy) so what do you all think?**


	16. Chapter 16

**And here is chapter sixteen. Thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites and for being patient with my delay, enjoy! Oh and I do not own Avengers!**

Id heard a great roar come from above, temporarily distracting her from sending the aliens off to kill each other. This thing was huge, like a frightening space whale, and she knew she was in over her head with it. It's large eyes found her, and seemed to target.

"Well, damn," Id frowned as she jumped over obstacles as she sped through alley ways, she saw Tony Stark flying around it, leading it away from her.

"Aren't we going to help him?" Id heard Mira chime up.

"Now why would we do that?"

"He is leading the beast away, he is saving us. You owe him."

"I owe no one," Id did not like the thought, she was making what she want happen, but this man steps in on his own accord and saves her.

"He is my friend, he was only ever kind to us," Mira remembered his playful teasing, his good heart, she couldn't watch her friends get killed.

"Yes, but he did nothing for me, I owe him nothing, he probably didn't realize he had saved us," Id felt something shift in Mira.

"We have to help him, he can't do this alone," Mira shouted, she wanted to be in control, she was done with being the door mat. Id fought back but Mira already made a choice, and her resolve was stronger, more real, she was the person. Id was just some ghost of those she knew and met. With one final tug, Mira was back, and turning around, she flung herself up a fire escape, and jumped from roof to roof as she tried her hardest to make it to her friend. She threw one of her few grenades at the alien, but it barely flinched. Blocking everything out, she ran at full speed, flinging herself off the roof, barely hanging on to the what looked like a ship of some sort.

"What the hell are you doing, are you crazy?!" she heard Tony shout at her.

"It looked like you needed help, so here I am, any ideas, Tony?"

"I'm leading him to Bruce, the Hulk can take him," Tony was fed up with this girl, but he knew having her around the Hulk could be bad.

"Good, I guess I'll just have to ride it out, can't really jump now," Mira gestured to the fact all the buildings were now towering over them.

"Well, be ready for a wild one then, hope you can handle yourself," and he was telling the truth, deep down he knew Mira was in there and he did care about the sweet little psychologist. Mira nodded.

It did not take long to reach the end of the line; they approached the other Avengers' location. Mira watched in awe and slight fear as Bruce slowly turned into the Hulk. Everything then happened in slow motion; Tony led the beast to Hulk, who raised his fist, bringing it down on its head, causing it to crumple and fall. Mira, doing the only thing she could think, leapt just at the moment of contact, flying to the side, before stumbling and falling on her face. The impact seemed to have broken her nose and something was very wrong with the wrist that caught her.

"Wwell, dwamn," Mira mumbled, blood poured into her mouth and down her shirt. Gingerly touching it, she felt it out of line. With a deep breath, she took it in her good hand and gave it a quick twist into place. Pressing under her upper lip to try and stop bleeding, she froze when she heard a yell and crashing. Turning, she came face to face with the Hulk. Being so close, her vision darkened from all the anger that he radiated. She could still feel Bruce though, he was still in there, confused, kind, and loving.

"Bwruce?" she asked cautiously, looking into the vivid green eyes of the Hulk, missing the warmth of the chocolate brown she was use to. The hulk looked down at her, confused more at her obvious change in personality from the Id of before.

"Bwruce, I-I don't think I'll be much help you guys anymore, my wrist," she lifted it and cringed as she saw it was already swelling, to the point that she couldn't bend her joint.

The Hulk stared at the girl's arm, before gently picking her up and walking her to the rest of the Avengers, before turning and running off. All the Avengers stared after him in shock, before turning to the bloody Mira.

"That was a brave thing you tried to do," Steve was the first to talk, and that strong, kind voice put her to tears. She cursed herself for being so weak, everything was adding up and she felt she was going insane.

"I-is there anything I can do-o to help?" she tried her best to look strong, as she looked to Thor, hoping his ever honorable and fight loving attitude would find her something to do.

"Do you think you can help the Black Widow?" Captain America said it, placing a gun in an uninjured hand.

Giving him a brilliant smile, she gave him a little salute, before getting behind some cover with the beautiful, deadly red head. She began firing off, trying her hardest to help her newest friends. Who were only kind to her during those few days she was with them.

**And end! Sorry again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, review and favorite! Also, I'm don't know what to do with Mira, I have several ideas (2 sad, one happy) so what do you all think?**


	17. Chapter 17

**And here is chapter seventeen. Thank you all for the reviews and story alerts/favorites and for being patient with my delay, enjoy! Oh and I do not own Avengers!**

**-**Bruces POV-

Bruce looked through the eyes of the Hulk at the wreckage, glad that it was not his doing. He made his way to Stark Tower, making his way through all the Chitauri that crossed his path. Climbing up, he thought it almost comical that from everyone below, he probably looked similar to King Kong. With a final hoist, he made it to the top. Glancing down, he noticed Mira picking her way through the aliens, her brown hair, tousled into a halo as she dipped and ducked their large hands, as they tried to kill her. He had hoped she would just stay with the others, but of course, with Mira he would be wrong.

"If it isn't the beast," he heard the cold voice of Loki, turning around he came face to face with the man who caused all the recent problems, "you look confused, or maybe that's just the fact you seemed to have lost your head. Mira seems to be back, and here I was hoping the girl would join me, she would have made an excellent goddess of the Earth."

The Hulk let a loud roar, before making his way to the man who had hurt Mira… his Mira.

"Enough!" Loki called out, temporarily stopping the Hulk, "all of you are beneath me! I am a _god_, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by-" but with a lurch, the Hulk had him in his hands, flinging him around like a rag doll.

"Puny god," Hulk gave a smirk, "can't hurt Mira." And with that he leapt out the window, his landing causing the earth below to crater slightly. Now he was going to help the others, since Loki was out of the picture for now.

-Mira's pov-

Her wrist felt like it was on fire, but she couldn't let that stop her, now that she was in the thick of things. She kept one eye on Bruce as she fought, she would help him as much as she could, he brought out something she wasn't feeling since her ex had betrayed her.

"Mira," she heard a loud rumbling voice.

"Bruce," she tried her best to look into his eyes, straining her neck, "I-I'm so sorry," but the Hulk silenced her by placing a large hand on her head.

"Stay close, be safer," he muttered before taking off, Mira sprinting to keep up.

She watched in awe as the Hulk was swarmed, but he flung them off. One fell by Mira, jumping, she reacted. With a swift kick to the head, she knocked it out, then bringing her foot down, she felt several bones crush under her foot. She felt bad, but this had to be done, so she pulled a knife out of a holster on her thigh and slight it's throat to the bone. Blood sprayed out, some getting on her hands and arms, before she turned to help Bruce more.

The two did good together, Mira somehow managed to turn a few aliens against the rest, glad that Id had taught her a thing or two before she was pushed back. The Hulk was very much the brawns during this fight, his hand enclosed around another alien's throat, throwing it at another, causing both to fly until they hit a building. Despite all the Avengers did, the alien army seemed never ending. The pair was shocked to see a large missile fly its way through to the city, not getting very far before Tony flew under it, redirecting its course towards the large hole in the sky. What was he doing!? Mira clutched onto the Hulk, her hand finding its way to his own, his dwarfing hers. This was one of the craziest ideas Tony could come up with, Mira was afraid for him, and she could tell Bruce felt the same.

**And end! Sorry again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, review and favorite! Also, I'm don't know what to do with Mira, I have several ideas (2 sad, one happy) so what do you all think?**


	18. Chapter 18

**And here is the last chapter! I will probably start a sequel after the next movie that has an Avenger in it, I hope you all enjoyed the story! I'll be sure to update on this story to tell you when I start the next one.**

It really happened too fast for Mira; Tony flew into outer space, Hulk roared as he pushed himself into action, leaping to the open portal, but it was closing too fast. This wasn't good, they weren't going to make it. Then, by some miracle, Tony fell through the portal just before closing.

"Thank god," Mira cheered out, but her excitement left as she watched the playboy genius fall to his death; only to be stopped by Bruce, who had leapt from a nearby building and caught him.

She ran with all her being, to see if she could help. The Avengers were surrounding the two, the same look of concern on their faces, she could feel the tension in everyone but Tony. Her powers were picking up nothing from the prone hero; her hand flew to her mouth as she kept in her sobs. Her Bruce's roar broke her out of her grief. She was shocked when Tony's eyes flew open, and she fell onto him, pulling him into a one armed embrace.

"Oh-Ithought-thankgod- urgBruce-Tony," Tony would have been more amused if he wasn't in pain, at the girl's unintelligible sobbing.

"Sorry, Bruce, guess I stole your girl, they just can't resist a hero," Tony's voice was hoarse, having had the wind knocked out of him. He grinned when he heard Hulk grumble.

He was shocked when Mira punched him with her good hand, seeing her other was swollen, "shut up, you were dead. I saw you die, you were no more," Mira would've continued her rant, but Hulk nudged her, practically toppling the tiny girl, "what? Bruce, love, I can't always be composed, can't I react to what's all just happened?"

Bruce internally chuckled, Mira was a worrywart, he adored that about her.

"Damn, even when you're the Hulk, you two are nauseatingly cute," he flinched when Mira swatted him again, "I was hoping Pepper would be the only one to resist my charm."

"If charm were dollars, you wouldn't be the billionaire you are," Mira said flately.

"Ouch," Tony groaned, he looked to the others and saw they were enjoying Mira's abuse, "so how does sharwarma sound, I flew by a place, never had it, it sounds good."

But he was shot down, they had business to take care of first.

"So how about that drink?" Loki asked, and Mira laughed.

She managed to look abashed when everyone looked at her like she was crazy, "what, you have to admit that was unexpected…"

Loki was soon restrained, a metal mask over his mouth to cage his silver tongue. Mira felt sympathetic; even she could see it was degrading to the dark god.

"What's wrong?" Bruce asked, seeing her shudder, placing his large hand on her shoulder.

She glanced up at him, a bitter smile on her face, "I suppose it's something only another manipulator can appreciate. I don't like using my powers, and you know I'm all about free will, but caging the mouth is like wearing a straightjacket."

Bruce nodded, he gently guided her into a warm embrace, "I will not let anyone lay a hand on you," his murmur was resolute, but the moment was ruined when Tony looped his arms around each of their shoulders.

"Who's ready to go to Stark tower?" his voice was sing song, and he was actually excited to introduce Pepper to his new friends.

"A-are you sure you want us to come?" Bruce asked, but his worrying left when he felt Mira squeeze his hand. He didn't know why he was worried, he now knew he could never be angry at her, at least not enough to let the other guy out.

"No," Tony deadpanned, "I invited you as a cruel joke… actually, pretend I didn't say that, don't say a thing Mira." He knew what she was thinking, that he would pull cruel jokes on people.

"Wellll, let's go then," Mira smiled, as she led Bruce to the car Tony jumped into, blushing lightly when Bruce held the door open for her to climb in, before scooting in himself.

Tony revved his engine as he slowly rolled past the other Avengers, "and next time, don't come crawling to me, don't work well with others, remember."

Mira laughed happily as they drove away, her hair flying around her head, she'd have to send Fury a little gift for introducing her to these wonderful people.

-ittle time skip-

The three made their way to Stark tower, the battle's marks were still obvious, though the fires were put out across the town. Scuffling her shoe against the floor, she waited for the infamous Pepper Potts to make her appearance. Tony had regaled them with the story of their meeting, and how they got together.

"I think she'll love you two," Tony said for about the tenth time or so. But before he could continue, the British voice of Jarvis interrupted him, announcing Pepper's arrival.

"Tony, what the hell happened to the city?" her voice reached them before she actually walked through the door, "were you doing science again." Her sarcastic nature helping her cope with her anxiety.

She was shocked, however when as soon as she walked through the door, she was pulled into a hug by Tony, who kissed her passionately, before stepping back to scold her, "you didn't answer your phone, I wanted to tell you not to come to the city, and that I love you."

She chuckled, brushing his unruly hair out of his face, "I love you too, um- who are those two… and what happened here."

Mira was blushing lightly, a bit uncomfortable now that she was in a spotlight, "h-hi, my name's-" but Tony interrupted her, stepping in front of Pepper again.

"The little elf is Mira, and that's Bruce Banner," Tony puffed up proudly, "They're my new friends, I brought them here so Bruce could play with the toys."

Mira shoved him out of her way, "Mirach Larkson, but you can call me Mira," she shook the woman's hand, feeling confusion and amusement roll off her, she decided to give Pepper a kind smile, "I don't know how you put up with him."

Pepper laughed, this new woman was quite interesting, and from the body language, had a thing for the taller man behind her, "sometimes I think the same thing. You can come with me, I feel like I could get a better story from you, besides, we can let those too tinker with their little gadgets."

And with that Mira followed the bright-eyed redhead. The two talked and laughed, finding out they had a lot more in common than a love of scientists between them. It wasn't long before Bruce and Tony came back from their time in the labs.

"Hey, love," Tony grinned, "how bout we all go out to dinner?"

"I suppose," Pepper sighed, rolling her eyes to Mira, who chuckled at her new friends' antics. It was obvious they loved each other very much.

And with that the two couples walked out.

Bruce pulled Mira to him, leaning to her ear, "this doesn't count as our date. I do want to spend some alone time with you."

Mira smiled coyly, "I suppose," she stood on her tip toes to give him a soft peck, making him stare at her in shock.

"You mean we're-" Bruce cut himself off as he watched Mira nod happily. He hadn't been this happy in a long time, and he decided he could get comfortable with this new arrangement. He gathered her in his arms, kissing her more urgently than her sweet peck.

"Will you guys hurry up? I'm hungry," Tony whined.

Yes, Bruce thought, he could get use to this new life, he was sure.

**AND END! I hope you all liked this story; it was fun writing it. I hope to maybe make a one-shot or so about the two's relationship. Tell me what you all think, I love reviews :D**


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